GENEVA: The WTO on Thurs­day largely sided with the US in its Obama-era case against Beijing over Chinese restrictions on imports of American grain.

The WTO decision was the second in as many months to favour Washington’s position on trade with China in grain.

Back in December 2016, Washington filed a complaint with the global trade body over what it claimed were illegal Chinese restrictions on imports of American rice, wheat and corn, describing China’s use of the so-called tariff-rate quota (TRQ) system as “opaque and unpredictable”.

Washington estimated at the time that American farmers could have exported some $3.5 billion more of such crops to China if the system had been used properly, and charged that Beijing had violated its commitments under international trade rules.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2019